


after midnight

by wildcard_47



Series: home for the holidays [3]
Category: Mad Men
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 08:37:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13142985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildcard_47/pseuds/wildcard_47
Summary: Getting home late after a long holiday trip.





	after midnight

**Author's Note:**

> Another tumblr fic from 2016.

 

Well after midnight, Lane shifted a sleeping Kevin’s weight from foot to foot as they stopped in front of the doorway to the flat, glancing toward Nigel with a significant expression— _get your keys out and open the door, please_. “Can you—?”

Why on earth did Gail have to move so far upstate? Visiting her was always exhausting, but even more so when they had to drive three hours in either direction to do it. Joan even had to take the last shift driving; he couldn’t see a damn thing in the dark, these days, even with the glasses.

Nigel unlocked the door, pushed it open, and disappeared inside the foyer, leaving Joan to shuffle in after him with a sigh, and Lane to follow, awkwardly pushing the door closed with a foot as he headed toward the boys’ room.

In here, he laid Kevin onto one of the twin beds. The boy didn’t even stir when Lane took his little shoes off, just lolled into the pillow in a boneless way, fine blond hair falling across his face. Lane put a thin blanket over him just as Nigel stepped inside, clearly ready for bed, as well, wearing pajama bottoms and carrying a t-shirt in one hand. God, he was getting tall.

“Good night,” Lane offered, patting his son on the shoulder. “Sleep well.”

“Yeah,” Nigel mumbled through a yawn—but he didn’t move away from Lane’s hand, so that was something.

In the hallway, Lane stretched out stiff muscles and removed his coat, opening the door to their bedroom to begin the process of getting ready for bed. When he walked inside, he nearly laughed. Joan was lying facedown on the mattress in all her clothes, while her coat was thrown across her vanity chair.

He walked over to the right hand side of their bed, putting a hand on her back. “Darling?”

“Mmph,” Joan mumbled—shorthand for _do not wake me._

“Don’t you want pajamas?” he asked quietly.

She turned her face to the side with a long sigh, keeping her eyes closed. There were tiny smudges of mascara under her lower lashes – either she’d scrubbed her face very quickly while he was with the boys, or was too tired to get up. “No.”

“All right,” he said, and let it drop. He spent the next few minutes getting ready for bed, washing his face and brushing his teeth and the rest, and when he walked back into the bedroom, he noticed Joan seemed to have regained enough consciousness to change out of her clothes. Although she was turned on her side and tucked under the blankets, there was a pile of things directly by her side of the bed.

Well. Least she’d be comfortable. Lane cut off the light, walked around to his side of the bed, pulled down the covers, and settled in. But after a second of quiet, he felt Joan’s hand on his arm as she scooted closer.

Automatically, he turned toward her, and got a hand on her elbow just as she leaned close and kissed him, barely catching the corner of his mouth.

“M’kay,” she mumbled as she pulled away, and patted his arm in a clumsy, distracted way, burrowing down into her pillow with a sigh. “Love you.”

In the darkness, he smiled. “You, too.”

 


End file.
